We are dedicated to connecting modern day Jews around the world through the ancient ideas and wisdom of the Torah, by providing a weekly Dvar Torah.

Friday, October 19, 2018

Dvar Torah & Podcast for Parshas Lech Lecha

Parshas Lech Lecha begins planting the seed of
the Jewish People with the introduction of Avraham Avinu. Avram, as he was
originally known, was famously commanded by Hashem to leave his homeland and
his family and travel to a far-off land, where Hashem would make him into a
great nation. Many commentaries explain that this was the first test of Avraham’s
faith in Hashem that showed he was worthy of being the father of the chosen
nation.

It is this pasuk, the first in the
parsha, that I would like to focus on. The pasuk says, “וַיֹּ֤אמֶר
יְהֹוָה֙ אֶל־אַבְרָ֔ם לֶךְ־לְךָ֛ מֵֽאַרְצְךָ֥ וּמִמּֽוֹלַדְתְּךָ֖ וּמִבֵּ֣ית
אָבִ֑יךָ אֶל־הָאָ֖רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֥ר אַרְאֶֽךָּ” “Hashem said to Avram, ‘Go for yourself from your land,
from your birthplace, and from your father’s house to the land that I will show
you” (Bereishis 12:1). The commentaries discuss why Hashem tells Avram to
leave three different places, his land, his birthplace, and his father’s house.
It’s important to first understand the explanation of these three places, and
the differences between them.

I understand these
three places as follows: “Your land”, this is the place that you know. You know
the streets and the shops, you know the culture and customs. It’s a place you
have called home. “Your birthplace”, is the place which knows you. Your parents,
grandparents, extended family are all known in this town. You may have lived
there for a short or long time, but if you return and mention your name, it’s
recognizable; not necessarily because of you personally, but because of your
family. “Your father’s house” is the most obvious; it’s where you have familial
support. In this case, it doesn’t matter if you know the place or if the place
knows you; even without either of those, you know you can survive there because
you have family who will support you. With this, we can understand what Hashem
was asking Avram to do. He was asking him to leave a place of familiarity, of sentimentality,
of support, and venture out on his own.

But there’s one thing strange
with request. At the end of the previous parsha, the Torah tells us that Avram’s
father, Terach, took his entire family out of the town of Ur Kasdim to Charan. This
week’s parsha tells us that Avram left Charan to go to Eretz Yisrael. Charan
may have been Avram’s land and the home of his family, but it most certainly wasn’t
his birthplace! The Torah even tells us this specifically (See 11:28). So when
Hashem asks Avram to leave his birthplace, it has already been done; what is He
asking for?

With an examination of
the next pesukim, another question arises. The only reason the Torah tells us
the age of any individual is for historical context. For example, if we know
this person was born in year ‘x’ and was this old when he died, then we can
figure out how long the Jewish People spent in Mitzrayim; or something similar
to that. However, in our parsha the pasuk writes, “וְאַבְרָ֗ם
בֶּן־חָמֵ֤שׁ שָׁנִים֙ וְשִׁבְעִ֣ים שָׁנָ֔ה בְּצֵאת֖וֹ מֵֽחָרָֽן”
“…Avram was seventy-five years old when he left Charan” (Bereishis
12:4). There doesn’t seem to be any significant reason why we need to know
Avram’s age at this point. Furthermore, why would it matter his age specifically
when he left Charan?

I would like to begin
answering these questions by examining the end of last week’s parsha. Parshas
Noach ends similarly to Parshas Bereishis, with a listing of the genealogy from
Noach until Avram. But when we arrive at Avram’s father, Terach, the Torah
tells us a whole long story about him. First, he has Avram at the age of
seventy. Then, his son, Haran dies. The his other two sons get married, then
Terach uproots his entire family to head towards Eretz Yisrael only to stop in
Charan for some unknown reason. Finally, the parsha ends with his death in
Charan at the age of 205. Why the need for this whole story? To tell us that
Avram got to Charan from Ur Kasdim? The Torah can figure out another way of
telling us that.

Furthermore, Rashi there
brings a confusing Chazal. If you calculate the age difference between Terach
and Avram, when Terach died, Avram was 145; which means that Terach was still
alive when Avram left him to go to Eretz Yisrael. So why does the Torah say that
Terach died before Avram left? They answer that in order to protect Avram from
people saying he didn’t honor his father for the last 60 years of his life, the
Torah kills him off before Avram leaves.

This Chazal is
confusing for two reasons. First, the Torah has been following a similar
pattern since Adam’s death. It lists the birth of the next generation, the length
of the person’s life, and then their death. It completely ignores the historical
order of events and focuses only on the chronological history. Why should it be
any different here by Terach? Secondly, if the Torah wanted to hide the fact
that Terach was still alive when Avram left, it didn’t do such a good job! Just
four pesukim later, it tells us that Avram was 75 when he left Charan; simple
math tells us that Terach was still alive at the time!

I’d like to propose an
explanation which answers all of our questions. The command from Hashem to
Avram to leave his hometown did not occur chronologically at the beginning of
this week’s parsha, but rather, at the end of Parshas Noach. That’s why Hashem
tells Avram to leave his hometown, because at the time, he was still in his
hometown! But when Avram went to tell his father he was leaving, Terach
actually agreed to go with him! What prompted this move on Terach’s part?
Perhaps this is the reason why the Torah goes into his seemingly unimportant
life story.

There is a famous midrash that might
explain why Terach left Ur Kasdim. Avram had challenged the authority of the
evil King Nimrod by teaching monotheism. Nimrod threw him into a furnace only
to see Avram escape unscathed. At this point, Hashem had seen that Avram had
the potential to become the father of the Jewish People, and decided to get the
ball rolling on that process by commanding Avram to head out and find his
destiny.

Perhaps seeing Avram miraculously
survive convinced Terach of the truth of Hashem, and when Avram told him Hashem
had commanded him to head to Eretz Yisrael, not only did Terach agree to go, he
led the way (See 11:31)! This whole set of pesukim is written only as a credit
to Terach; he accepted the word of Hashem and was actually heading towards
Eretz Yisrael to fulfill that command! Along the way, for whatever reason,
Terach stopped in Charan and settled there. (As the pasuk says, “וַיָּבֹ֥אוּ עַד־חָרָ֖ן וַיֵּ֥שְׁבוּ שָֽׁם” “they arrived at
Charan and they settled there” [ibid].)

At a certain point,
even though he didn’t want to leave his father, Avram had to continue on to
fulfill the will of Hashem. So at the age of 75, he left Charan to continue to
Eretz Yisrael, taking his wife and nephew, but leaving his father. This is why
the Torah mentions Avram’s age, because this is a significant moment, it’s when
he actually left to fulfill the word of Hashem. And that’s why his age is
specific to his leaving Charan. Until this point, Avram hadn’t fulfilled the
requirement to leave his father’s house; now he finally was.

It can also explain
what Chazal mean that the Torah ‘hid’ Terach’s real death date from us. They were
concerned that people would think Avram didn’t honor his father; nothing could
be further from the truth! Avram honored his father a tremendous amount! He
allowed him to take center stage on a journey that was supposed to be Avram’s
show of faith in Hashem (The pasuk says, “וַיִּקַּ֨ח
תֶּ֜רַח אֶת־אַבְרָ֣ם בְּנ֗וֹ” “And Terach took his son Avram…”
[ibid]. This wasn’t Avram’s journey, Terach took him along!) He stayed with him
in Charan even though he was supposed to be continuing on to Eretz Yisrael. He
went beyond his scope of responsibility. So while the fact that Avram left
during Terach’s lifetime isn’t exactly hidden by the Torah, the fact that it’s
not written explicitly is important to note. The respect of Avram towards his
father must be preserved.